Colorado gambit and nimzowitch defense strong or doubtful

Colorado gambit is trash.

Nimzowitch defense is suboptimal, but not a disaster.

If the Colorado gambit is ok, then 1.g4 is ok, and your standard of "ok" is very low.

The Nimzovich opening is played at the grandmaster level and has a ton of theory to learn. It is mainly about screwing up whites pawn center and then attacking the pawns. They can be long grueling games where a mistake can cost you a win. There is a ton of theory to learn and I don’t think it is easy for someone who doesn’t know pawn breaks and positional play. With that being said I am trying to employ it. You want a complex opening so you can increase your chances of winning or losiand decrease drawish games. The Slav or semi-Slav are openings that I will revert to if I don’t like the Nimzovich opening. 

The Slav and semislav are better to learn for beginner and intermediate players. 

1. e4 Nc6 2. d4 d5 is playable, Colorado gambit is absolutely suicidal

The one and only good thing about the Colorado gambit is that it does not lose by force (although I am not totally sure about that).

  I am pretty sure most openings with a real name would not lose by force. Sure, black may be slightly worse but then life can be cruel. To answer OP, I have been playing both the Colorado and the Nimzowitsch defense for about 3 years now and I have scored pretty well with it. However in the Colorado, black really needs to watch out since white has many different move-order tricks as well as a plethora of choices apart from the main line. So, I'd advise you to practice it intensively for some time before employing it in a serious format. 

And here, the Damiano defense (which has a name can't really be considered as a good opening:

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Sorry I didn't see that you wrote

most openings that have a name      and not

all openings which have a name.

4.Nh4 is as stupid as 2...f5 is.

Fool's Mate is actually named, as is 1. h4 d5 2. Rh3??. 

Nh4 is a moronic move. Here is how white refutes this garbage "gambit".

If you can find any way how black's position is even close to okay, please show me. The only way black is even able to hold a draw here is if white screws it up.

And in your line, black has an absolutely AWFUL pawn structure. In fact, right there, white can play Bxd6 and win e6 right after, and after that there's no way for black to defend c6 either. White can go into an endgame at least up a couple of pawns since black's pawn structure and development is so weak. It's clearly a won game for white.

Ah going for the pawn is a bad move my bad for not analyzing it throughly. Not sure how you can say this is even remotely playable though, in the line you are giving Stockfish gives white a +2.4 advantage, which is quite significant. Black's pawn structure and poor development gives him no compensation.

come on, unless you are a pro chess player at 2750+, anything is playable. Most of your opponents will not know what to do when they face something like this. The surprise element!

Anyway, assessment of openings by experts also keeps changing. So, just play whatever works for you.

if you've never seen this vid on the Colorado , then now is the perfect time isn't it

@Ashvapathi If they do not know the line sure. I used to have a friend who played the Colorado, so I learned the line, and after I used the correct line against him a few games he quit playing it. If you play someone who's studied the Colorado as black you're in trouble.